Coakley
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has reached a settlement with Boston Clinical Laboratories, Inc., over allegations the company violated the state's Medicaid False Claims Act.
The settlement is a result of an investigation that was launched in Oct. 2007 and revealed, Coakley said, that from Jan. 2000-Oct. 2007, Boston Clinical submitted more than 66,000 claims for urine tests to Medicaid, even though the tests were not authorized by a medical prescriber.
Under the terms of the settlement, Boston Clinical has agreed to pay $615,000 to the state Medicaid program along with $14,000 to the federal program.
The company also agreed to institute a comprehensive compliance program to ensure compliance with state laws and Medicaid regulations, as well as hire an independent compliance monitor to develop and implement written compliance protocols for the company.
The company will also train all current and future employees on compliance issues, and conduct bi-annual compliance audits, according to Coakley.
"At a time when state and federal budgets are currently under tremendous strain, it is vital that providers of services in the Medicaid program comply with the regulations to ensure that we are only paying for services that have been properly ordered and which have been authorized for a medically necessary purpose," Coakley said.